Ascension Of The Násr

The artificial creation of life creates a massive disturbance in the symmetry between the material universe and the Void. The Aëdr discovered the catastrophic effects of this breaking of symmetry during the latter stages of their technological advancement, when the fragile veil between the material universe and the Void was ripped asunder by their experiements. It was this catastrophe that laid waste to many star systems, including the Vónekh System. The area of space affected by the breach became known as Faën-Maróth “The Phantom Nexus” – though this term is not readily known in the current time period.

Appalled by the devastation they had wrought onto the natural order of the universe, the Grand Council of Telárhis – the first world of the vast Aëdr empire – ruled that the artificial creation of life was henceforth banned, with the most severe penalties threatened to any who would dare threaten the universe in this way. To endeavour to repair the damage they had already caused they built the Symmetron, a vast network of pillars across many worlds that would function to maintain the balance between the Void and the material universe.

The Aëdr had also learned through similar experiments that it was possible to manipulate and preserve the forces of life, carefully balancing the essence of life in the material universe with its counterpart reflection in the Void. The strictest edicts were placed around the use of this technology and knowledge of its workings was limited to only a few of the most exalted among the Aëdr – the Grand Council themselves.

Becoming growingly obsessed with their guardianship of these dread science, the Grand Council would trust no other, not now nor in the future. Though they had the long lives of the Aëdr race, they were already ancient. Unwilling to pass the mantle of protection on to another generation, they preserved their own lives in a terrible way. Their consciousness was bound to great machines known as Vessels and their physical bodies left to wither and die. They called this transformation the Path of the Násr – “The Ascendant”, and they claimed theirs to be the ultimate sacrifice, denying themselves of physical senses to remain forever as custodians of the empire.